John Kelly said: ‘Right now, the champion of all people who are Daca is Donald Trump.’
Photograph: Zach Gibson/EPA

Some immigrants may have been “too lazy to get off their asses” or “too afraid” to sign up for the Obama-era program that offered protection from deportation, the White House chief of staff, John Kelly, said on Tuesday, as he defended Donald Trump’s proposal aimed at breaking the impasse on immigration.

Timeline

​Donald Trump and Dreamers: a timeline of mixed messages​

16 August 2015

Upon announcing his presidential bid Donald Trump makes hardline immigration reform central to his campaign and pledges to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca).

“I will immediately terminate President Obama’s illegal executive order on immigration,” he says.

7 December 2016

Weeks after winning the White House, ​​President-elect Trump appears to soften his stance on Dreamers. Despite offering no specific policy he promises to “work something out”.

Trump acknowledges the fraught road to a solution, describing Daca as a “very difficult thing for me as I love these kids”.

“I have to deal with a lot of politicians,” Trump says. “And I have to convince them that what I’m saying is right.”

5 February 2017

Trump abruptly announces ​​he will end Daca, phasing out applications for renewal by March 2018. ​​The president insists the decision provides a “window of opportunity for Congress to finally act”.

14 September 2017

Following talks with Democrats, Trump hints a deal may be close, but suggests it wouldn’t include a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.

“We’re not looking at citizenship. We’re not looking at amnesty,” Trump tells reporters.

9 January 2018

Trump promises to “take the heat” for a bipartisan Daca bill being brokered by senators. But within days he revokes his support, calling the bipartisan plan “a big step backwards”.​ The US government shuts down after negotiations over the budget and a Dreamers solution collapse. On the same day a district judge rules the administration must keep the program open to new applications, a ruling that is later supported by other federal court decisions.

24 January 2018

With the government reopened with a temporary bill, Trump tells reporters he is now open to a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers “over a period of 10-12 years” if the individual “does a great job, they work hard​”.

1 April 2018

Trump appears to end the possibility of a bipartisan deal over Daca with a series of furious tweets on Easter Sunday. He blames Democrats and declares: "NO MORE DACA DEAL!"

Oliver Laughland

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In remarks to reporters, Kelly described Trump’s plan, which would provide a path to citizenship for up to 1.8 million people – more than Democrats had sought – as “beyond what anyone could have imagined”.

“There are 690,000 official Daca [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] registrants and the president sent over what amounts to be two and a half times that number, to 1.8 million,” he said. “The difference between [690,000] and 1.8 million were the people that some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say were too lazy to get off their asses, but they didn’t sign up.”

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Kelly spoke as lawmakers have deadlocked in an effort to reach a bipartisan deal on protecting from deportation recipients of the program, known as Dreamers. Barring a last-minute agreement – which seems unlikely – the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, has said his chamber will begin considering the issue, a debate that GOP leaders expect to start next week.

Kelly said Trump would probably reject an effort to pass a short-term extension for the program, which is set to expire on 5 March.

But he also noted the 5 March deadline may not have immediate impact. He said immigrants currently protected won’t be priorities for deportation as long as they do not commit crimes.

Kelly said lawmakers need a deadline to force action.

“What makes them act is pressure,” he said.

In exchange for making citizenship a possibility, Trump wants $25bn for border security, including money to build parts of his coveted wall along the US-Mexico boundary. He also wants to curb legal immigration, restricting the relatives that legal immigrants could sponsor for citizenship and ending a lottery that distributes visas to people from selected countries.

“I can’t imagine men and women of good will who begged this president to solve the problem of Daca” would oppose Trump’s proposal, said Kelly. He added: “Right now, the champion of all people who are Daca is Donald Trump.”

Kelly said he doubted “very much” that Trump would act unilaterally to extend Daca beyond 5 March. He said Barack Obama exceeded his constitutional authority in initially creating it.

Kelly also ruled out asking lawmakers to approve a short-term extension of the program. And he said he opposed one idea mentioned as a possible fallback should talks on a broader bipartisan compromise fail — a one-year extension of Daca in exchange for a year’s worth of money for border security, including for building Trump’s wall.

“I would certainly advise against it,” Kelly said. “I would advise against it, I’m not the president.”